The annual Greening the Blue Report – The UN system’s environmental footprint and efforts to reduce it shows the progress both at the UN system-wide level and entity level of implementing the Strategy for Sustainability Management in the United Nations System 2020-2030, Phase I: Environmental Sustainability in the Area of Management (Sustainability Strategy I). The 2023 edition of the Greening the Blue Report, which provides 2022 data, was published on 21 December 2023. Commenting on the results from the report, António Guterres, UN Secretary-General noted, “The world must work together to address the triple planetary crisis of runaway climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. We at the United Nations must do our part with advocacy and action. I encourage all UN entities to set an example by greening the blue.” Sustainability Strategy I covers both environmental impact areas and management functions. Highlights of the Greening the Blue Report 2023’s UN system-wide 2022 data results include: Environmental Impact Areas Greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) - the UN’s operations and facilities emitted 1.4 million tonnes of CO2eq in total or 4.6 tonnes CO2eq per capita. The UN system’s GHG emissions by source were 38% from air travel, 47% from facilities and 15% from other forms of travel Waste - the average waste generated for the whole UN system was 321 kg/person Water - the average water consumption by the UN system was 49 m3 per UN personnel per year Management Functions Environmental Governance – 7 UN entities have met or exceeded the criteria for implementing an Environmental Management System, with an additional 15 entities approaching the criteria Procurement* – 24 out of 29 organizations implemented formal sustainable procurement policies in their procurement processes Human Resources – 31 entities have environmental training available for their staff Greening the Blue Report 2023 highlights the environmental impacts of over 308,000 personnel in 57 entities across Headquarters, field offices and operations on the ground. The report also includes a case study from a UN entity on each of the environmental impact areas and management functions. To read the whole report and the detailed entity level data, please visit greeningtheblue.org. *Procurement data is taken from the 2022 Annual Statistical Report on United Nations Procurement. More information Methodologies and data collection used, please visit greeningtheblue.org/methodology. Methodology related to travel emissions provided by the International Civil Aviation Organisation please visit the ICAO website. For climate neutrality, please visit the UNFCCC website. For more information, please contact: UN Environment Programme E-mail: unepnewsdesk@unep.org
Sustainable construction is moving beyond showcase green construction projects towards verified disclosure, water resilience and the infrastructure needed for a credible circular economy. More than 1,000 organisations have now published TNFD-aligned nature disclosures, twice last year’s total, signalling that biodiversity, whole life carbon and the environmental impact of construction are becoming board-level risks. For developers, infrastructure owners and material suppliers, nature loss is no longer a landscaping concern but a measurable liability that affects sustainable building design, life cycle cost and long-term building lifecycle performance.
Water risk is becoming a defining test of environmental sustainability in construction. CDP warns that major companies face almost $400bn in rising water-related impacts, while many still fail to quantify exposure with the rigour expected of lifecycle assessment, whole life carbon assessment or embodied carbon reporting. Construction is highly exposed through water-intensive materials, open sites and long-lived assets vulnerable to drought, flooding and regulation. The sector has learnt to measure the carbon footprint of construction; it now needs stronger life cycle thinking in construction that accounts for watersheds, resilience and resource efficiency in construction.
Practical responses are emerging. BIM4Water’s 2026-30 roadmap points to a more data-led water sector, with digital modelling and asset information treated as delivery tools for low carbon design, sustainable design and energy-efficient buildings. Hertfordshire’s £24m waste transfer station, designed to handle 140,000 tonnes a year, shows the physical infrastructure required for circular economy in construction. Recycling targets, end-of-life reuse in construction and circular construction strategies depend on facilities that can sort, process and move materials at scale.
The direction of travel is clear: net zero carbon buildings and net zero whole life carbon targets will depend less on isolated eco-design for buildings and more on verified data, resilient utilities, sustainable material specification and low embodied carbon materials. BREEAM, BREEAM v7, environmental product declarations (EPDs) and robust assessment of embodied carbon in materials will be central to decarbonising the built environment. Sustainable architecture must now prove performance through low carbon construction materials, green building materials, renewable building materials and measurable carbon footprint reduction across design, construction, operation and reuse.
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